Just a tip …
I’ve been painting a lot lately. That means I’ve been washing a lot of brushes, rollers, paint pans. I put the brushes in bags to use later when I’m working on one color, so I don’t have to wash them all of the time. But the paint tends to dry near the metal holding the bristles. I struggled with how to get that truly clean. Then I remembered the combs that came with the NIX kits we had to buy when we were infested with lice last fall. I saved them in case we ever had to deal with it again (although, honestly, they really didn’t do much in terms of getting rid of lice. In case you’ve stumbled across my blog via a search for lice fighting tips, here’s a comb that really was a life saver in our battle against nits – Nit Free Terminator Lice Comb).
I have to say, the combs really do help with cleaning my paint brushes! Just had to share. 🙂
flash bulbs purple irises 
If you’re using regular latex paint, put your paint brushes and rollers into the freezer wrapped in plastic wrap (or a plastic grocery bag). They’ll take only a few minutes to thaw to re-use them and won’t have any ill effects. They can stay in the freezer for a long while, too!
If you have a good brush, a wire brush (the big ones for scraping paint) works wonders for breaking up the paint near the bristles.